Pink Cadillac (film)

Last updated
Pink Cadillac
Pink Cadillac (1989 film poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Buddy Van Horn
Written by John Eskow
Produced by David Valdes
Michael Gruskoff
Starring
Cinematography Jack N. Green
Edited by Joel Cox
Music by Steve Dorff
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • May 26, 1989 (1989-05-26)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$19 million
Box office$12.1 million

Pink Cadillac is a 1989 American action comedy film directed by Buddy Van Horn, about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing after an innocent woman who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film stars Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters and also has small cameo appearances by Jim Carrey and Bryan Adams. Pink Cadillac marks the third and final collaboration between Eastwood and director Buddy Van Horn, following Any Which Way You Can (1980) and The Dead Pool (1988), as well as Van Horn's final film as a director and Eastwood's final comedy film.

Contents

Plot

A white supremacist group is chasing Lou Ann, whose husband, Roy, is a member. She has inadvertently taken counterfeit money from them by running away with his car (the pink Cadillac), which held the supremacists' stash.

Tommy Nowak is a skip-tracer whose speciality is dressing up in disguises, such as a rodeo clown, to fool whomever he is after. Tommy takes on the job of finding Lou Ann because she skipped bail.

When he finally finds her in Reno, Nevada, Tommy slowly becomes enamored. Roy and his gang kidnap her baby, whom Lou Ann has left with her sister, so Tommy decides to help Lou Ann get the baby back instead of turning her in. While driving through the West, seeking the baby, romance blossoms. They eventually fight the white supremacists and retrieve the baby.

Cast

Production

Filming began in late 1988, and took place in Utah and Nevada. [1] Parts filmed in Quincy, Cresent Mills, west shore lake almanor, all Plumas County

Soundtrack

Pink Cadillac
Soundtrack album by
various artists
ReleasedMay 23, 1989 (1989-05-23) [2]
Genre [2]
Length32:49
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Jim Ed Norman

The film's soundtrack features ten songs, all done by various country and rock artists. The album peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Top Country Albums in July 1989. [3]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."Never Givin' Up on Love"Micheal Smotherman Michael Martin Murphey 3:48
2."There's a Tear in My Beer" Hank Williams Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams2:48
3."If It Wasn't for the Heartache" Chris Waters, Kix Brooks Jill Hollier2:38
4."Card Carryin' Fool" Byron Hill, Tim Bays Randy Travis 2:24
5."Any Way the Wind Blows" John McFee, André Pessis Southern Pacific 3:36
6."Reno Bound"McFee, PessisSouthern Pacific3:07
7."Beneath the Texas Moon" J.C. Crowley, Jack Wesley RouthJ.C. Crowley3:45
8."Rollin' Dice" Dennis Robbins, Bob DiPiero, John Scott Sherrill Billy Hill 3:24
9."Drive All Night" Dion DiMucci Dion 3:00
10."Born Under a Bad Sign" Booker T. Jones, William Bell Robben Ford 3:41
Total length:32:49

Reception

The film received generally poor reviews. Caryn James wrote: "When it's time to look back on the strange sweep of Clint Eastwood's career, from his ambitious direction of Bird to his coarse, classic Dirty Harry character, Pink Cadillac will probably settle comfortably near the bottom of the list. It is the laziest sort of action comedy, with lumbering chase scenes, a dull-witted script and the charmless pairing of Mr. Eastwood and Bernadette Peters." ( New York Times , May 26, 1989.)

Hal Hinson praised the performers: Peters "...plays her comic scenes with a vivacious abandon..." She "loosens him (Eastwood) up... and humanizes him. These two make a nifty comic team." [4]

Pink Cadillac was released in May 1989, opening against Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . The film eventually grossed $12,143,484. In contrast, the movie Eastwood made just prior to Pink Cadillac, the fifth Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool , grossed $37,903,295. [5] Perhaps due to the poor reviews and meager box office, the film is, as of 2021, Eastwood's last action comedy.

It has a 24% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 21 reviews. [6] It also went direct to video in the United Kingdom, without a cinema release.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Eastwood</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1930)

Clinton Eastwood Jr. is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

<i>Red Heat</i> (1988 film) 1988 film directed by Walter Hill

Red Heat is a 1988 American buddy cop action comedy film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Walter Hill and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Soviet policeman Ivan Danko, and Jim Belushi as Chicago police detective Art Ridzik. Finding themselves on the same case, Danko and Ridzik work as partners to catch a cunning and deadly Georgian drug kingpin, Viktor Rostavili, who killed Danko's previous partner. Most of the scenes set in the Soviet Union were actually shot in Hungary. Schwarzenegger was paid a salary of $8 million for his role in the film.

<i>Magnum Force</i> 1973 film

Magnum Force is a 1973 American neo-noir action thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on Rawhide and Hang 'Em High, directed the film. The screenplay was written by John Milius and Michael Cimino. The film score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. This film features early appearances by David Soul, Tim Matheson and Robert Urich. At 123 minutes, it is the longest of the five Dirty Harry films.

<i>The Cable Guy</i> 1996 American black comedy film

The Cable Guy is a 1996 American absurdist satirical black comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, written by Lou Holtz Jr. and starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. It was released in the United States on June 14, 1996. The film co-stars Leslie Mann, Jack Black, George Segal, Diane Baker, Eric Roberts, Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Andy Dick, Ben Stiller, and Bob Odenkirk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Lewis (actor)</span> American actor (1935–2015)

Geoffrey Bond Lewis was an American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films and television shows, and was principally known for his film roles alongside Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford. He often portrayed villains or quirky characters.

<i>Blood Work</i> (film) 2002 film by Clint Eastwood

Blood Work is a 2002 American mystery thriller film starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also produced. It co-stars Jeff Daniels, Wanda De Jesús, and Anjelica Huston. It is based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Michael Connelly.

<i>Me, Myself & Irene</i> 2000 comedy film by Peter and Bobby Farrelly

Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American slapstick black comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers, and starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger. Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Daniel Greene, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon and Mongo Brownlee co-star. The film is about a Rhode Island state trooper named Charlie who, after years of continuously suppressing his rage and feelings, suffers a psychotic breakdown that results in a second personality, Hank. This was Carrey's first role in a 20th Century Fox film, along with being the Farrelly brothers' second film with Carrey since Dumb and Dumber (1994).

<i>The Dead Pool</i> 1988 film by Buddy Van Horn

The Dead Pool is a 1988 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Buddy Van Horn, written by Steve Sharon, and starring Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry film series and is set in San Francisco, California.

<i>High Plains Drifter</i> 1973 American Western film by Clint Eastwood

High Plains Drifter is a 1973 American Western film directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Ernest Tidyman, and produced by Robert Daley for The Malpaso Company and Universal Pictures. The film stars Eastwood as a mysterious stranger who metes out justice in a corrupt frontier mining town. The film was influenced by the work of Eastwood's two major collaborators, film directors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. In addition to Eastwood, the film also co-stars Verna Bloom, Mariana Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Ging, and Stefan Gierasch.

<i>Thunderbolt and Lightfoot</i> 1974 film directed by Michael Cimino

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is a 1974 American crime comedy film written and directed by Michael Cimino and starring Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy, and Geoffrey Lewis.

<i>Every Which Way but Loose</i> 1978 film by James Fargo

Every Which Way but Loose is a 1978 American action comedy film released by Warner Bros., produced by Robert Daley and directed by James Fargo. It stars Clint Eastwood in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role as Philo Beddoe, a trucker and bare-knuckle brawler roaming the American West in search of a lost love while accompanied by his brother/manager, Orville, and his pet orangutan, Clyde. In the process, Philo manages to cross a motley assortment of characters, including a pair of police officers and an entire motorcycle gang, who end up pursuing him for revenge.

<i>The Rookie</i> (1990 film) 1990 film directed by Clint Eastwood

The Rookie is a 1990 American buddy cop action drama thriller film directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Boaz Yakin and Scott Spiegel, and produced by Howard G. Kazanjian, Steven Siebert, and David Valdes. The film stars Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, Raul Julia, Sônia Braga, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Tom Skerritt. Eastwood plays a veteran police officer teamed up with a younger detective played by Sheen, whose intent is to take down a German crime lord in downtown Los Angeles, following months of investigation into an exotic car theft ring.

<i>Any Which Way You Can</i> 1980 film by Buddy Van Horn

Any Which Way You Can is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Buddy Van Horn and starring Clint Eastwood, with Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, William Smith, and Ruth Gordon in supporting roles. The film is the sequel to the 1978 hit comedy Every Which Way but Loose. The cast of the previous film return as Philo Beddoe (Eastwood) reluctantly comes out of retirement from underground bare-knuckle boxing to take on a champion hired by the mafia, who will stop at nothing to ensure the fight takes place, while the neo-Nazi biker gang Philo humiliated in the previous film also comes back for revenge.

<i>48 Hrs.</i> 1982 buddy cop film by Walter Hill

48 Hrs. is a 1982 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-written by Walter Hill, co-written by Larry Gross, Steven E. de Souza and Roger Spottiswoode, and starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy as a cop and a convict, respectively, who team up to catch two hardened criminals. The title refers to the amount of time they have to solve the crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Eastwood filmography</span>

Clint Eastwood is an American film actor, director, producer, and composer. He has appeared in over 60 films. His career has spanned 65 years and began with small uncredited film roles and television appearances. Eastwood has acted in multiple television series, including the eight-season series Rawhide (1959–1965). Although he appeared in several earlier films, mostly uncredited, his breakout film role was as the Man with No Name in the Sergio Leone–directed Dollars Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which weren't released in the United States until 1967/68. In 1971, Eastwood made his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me. Also that year, he starred as San Francisco police inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry. The film received critical acclaim, and spawned four more films: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988).

<i>How the Grinch Stole Christmas</i> (2000 film) 2000 Christmas film by Ron Howard

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a 2000 American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Ron Howard, who also produced with Brian Grazer, from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. The film was based on Dr. Seuss's 1957 children's book of the same name, as the first Dr. Seuss book to be adapted into a full-length feature film and the first of only two live-action Dr. Seuss films, followed by The Cat in the Hat released in 2003. This was also the second adaptation of the book, after the 1966 animated TV special of the same name.

<i>Bronco Billy</i> 1980 film by Clint Eastwood

Bronco Billy is a 1980 American Western comedy-drama film starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke. It was directed by Eastwood and written by Dennis Hackin.

<i>Traveller</i> (1997 film) 1997 American film

Traveller is a 1997 American crime comedy-drama film directed by Jack N. Green in his directorial debut. The film stars Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, Julianna Margulies, James Gammon, and Luke Askew. The story follows a man and a group of nomadic con artists in North Carolina. The film premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 8, 1997 and received a limited release on April 18, 1997.

Wayne "Buddy" Van Horn was an American stunt coordinator and film director. He directed the Clint Eastwood films Any Which Way You Can (1980), The Dead Pool (1988), and Pink Cadillac (1989). A long-time stunt double for Eastwood, he was credited as the stunt coordinator on Eastwood's films from 1972 to 2011, and as second unit director on Magnum Force (1973) and The Rookie (1990). He was sometimes credited as Wayne Van Horn in the 1980s. He earlier doubled for Guy Williams on Disney's Zorro, and Gregory Peck. Van Horn's most prominent onscreen appearance is the role of Marshal Jim Duncan in the Eastwood film High Plains Drifter (1973). Van Horn died in Los Angeles on May 11, 2021, at the age of 92.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Pacific (band)</span> American country rock band

Southern Pacific was an American country rock band that existed from 1983 to 1991. They are best known for hits such as "Any Way the Wind Blows" (1989), which was used in the soundtrack for the film Pink Cadillac starring Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters, and "New Shade of Blue". Southern Pacific was named New Country Group of the Year when they debuted and have been honored by having their name added to the Country Music Association's Walkway of Stars in Nashville, Tennessee.

References

  1. Hughes, p.129
  2. 1 2 "Pink Cadillac soundtrack". Allmusic. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  3. "Chart history for Pink Cadillac soundtrack". Billboard. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  4. Hinson, Hal.‘Pink Cadillac’ (PG-13)".Washington Post, May 26, 1989
  5. "Eastwood boxoffice".Box Office Mojo, retrieved March 22, 2010
  6. Pink Cadillac at Rotten Tomatoes

Bibliography